Couple events

Stories

Wrestling on Saturday in the championship final, Chad Terry put on a show that brought the 15,000 fans packed into Denver’s Pepsi Center to their feet, strangers who may not even know where the town of Hayden is were screaming as the final seconds of the final period of Terry’s final match ticked away.

Ten years ago on the slopes of a resort in the mountains east of Park City, Utah, a young freestyle skier named Travis Mayer stepped into the starting gate at the Olympics and captured the spirit of Steamboat Springs.

Eleven years of work came to a ceremonial conclusion when 200 or so people turned out at Yampa Valley Regional Airport for an official “grand re-opening” of the airport. It was a fitting tribute to those whose perseverance has resulted in a first-rate regional airport.

Things go quiet, and there is a sense of unease. But Rebecca Shephard doesn’t pause or hesitate. She’s been here before, explaining a life-changing event to someone who doesn’t know and is uneasy about asking.

Stepping along with a lively rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” about 50 people, costumed in feathers and jester hats and draped in strings of plastic beads, made their way through the base area at Steamboat Ski Area.

The Soroco boys basketball team can blow games open, score 26 points in the second quarter like it did Saturday against Vail Mountain and even look like an upper-echelon team. But then it can frustrate, blow a 14-point halftime lead and somehow find a way to lose, 69-63, in overtime.

They have done it twice before, so why the heck not a third time. The Soroco and Hayden High School girls basketball teams will tangle for a third time at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Hayden, this time in the opening round of the district tournament.

Sitting in a cabin at Whiteman on Wednesday, the Yampa Valley’s newest international student said he’s learning new words, making new friends and trudging on his way to class through powder that never coated his hometown in China.

The latest employment information from Yampa Valley Data Partners shows that the number of jobs in Routt County is at its lowest level since 2001. However, average wages, when adjusted for inflation, have grown steadily.

That was the easiest yet most frustrating win the Hayden High School boys basketball team has had all year. Hayden was supposed to play Vail Mountain at home Friday. The only problem was Vail Mountain didn’t show up.

There certainly were moments when you could see the Steamboat Springs girls basketball team playing with Moffat County. Then there were stretches like the third quarter, when Moffat County proved its a worthy Western Slope League co-champion in a 48-35 win.